Don't Say a Word - Barbara Freethy [136]
"Julia."
"Elena," she echoed. "You know I hate to go to sleep first."
Elena's soft laugh floated through the shadowy darkness. "I remember that now. You never wanted me to go to sleep before you. Every time I said good night, you said something else, so you'd always have the last word."
"And so I'd keep you awake." Julia stared at the ceiling, watching the moonbeams play across the room. They had once been best friends, as close as two sisters could be. Twenty-five years had separated them, but the connection between them was already back. "I missed you," Julia whispered into the darkness.
"I missed you, too," Elena said softly.
Julia closed her eyes, content now to let Elena have the last word.
Chapter 21
Julia crept out of bed just after eight o'clock. Elena was still sleeping, and the apartment was quiet. She walked into the living room and saw Alex sprawled across the narrow couch. He'd kicked off his blanket and wore only a pair of navy blue boxers. Her breath caught at the sight of him. He really was an attractive man, and she felt a stirring of desire at his tousled hair and whisker-laden cheeks, the sweep of his dark lashes against his olive-skinned face. She wanted to touch him, wanted to run her hands down his strong arms and across his sculpted abs. She wanted to wrap herself around him until they were touching in every possible way.
Kneeling next to the couch, she leaned over and traced his lips with her tongue. He responded immediately, his hand catching the back of her head and pulling her in for a deeper, longer, more passionate kiss.
"You were awake," she accused breathlessly when she opened her eyes and saw him watching her. "Why didn't you say something?"
"I wanted to see what you would do," he said with a grin.
He had no idea what she'd wanted to do… or maybe he did.
"Did you sleep well?" she asked.
"Not bad. I had a good dream. Want to know what it was about? You were the star."
"What was I wearing?"
His grin widened. "Nothing."
She couldn't help smiling back. "You are bad."
"In my dream you were bad." He pulled her to him, his hands brushing the sides of her breasts.
She would have liked to strip off her T-shirt and join him on the couch, but she could hear her sister moving around in the bedroom. "Elena will be out here any second," she said, gently pushing him away.
"Killjoy." He sat up on the couch, running a hand through his hair. "How are you two getting along?"
"Good." She sat next to him. "I keep thinking it should be more uncomfortable, that twenty-five years should have made us strangers, but there's still a connection between us. We know each other on a very basic level." She felt a little self-conscious at her words. "Maybe there is some sort of twin thing going on."
A cell phone rang from the vicinity of Alex's pants. Julia tossed him his jeans, and he pulled out the phone. "Hello." He glanced over at Julia and mouthed, Brady. "A bank account number, huh? Where's the bank?" He listened for a few more minutes, then said, "Yes, we found Julia's twin sister, the one you neglected to mention. I know, isn't that amazing? Those two should never have been separated or lost in the system. If you guys hadn't screwed up, they wouldn't have spent the past twenty-five years apart." Alex paused for another moment. "Yes, we do have a key, and I have a feeling it will fit. All right. We'll meet you in an hour, as soon as the bank opens." He grabbed a pen off the coffee table and jotted down an address on the back of a magazine. "Got it. What about protection? Julia and I have been followed more than once." He listened, then said, "Fine, see you then."
"What did he say?" Julia asked as soon as Alex had ended the call.
"The numbers scratched in the dolls are for a bank account here in DC. Brady wants all three of us to meet him at the bank when it opens. He also said there's a safe-deposit box, and I have a feeling the key we found in the doll fits right into that box."
Julia felt a rush of excitement. "Good news for a change. But when did Mr. Brady